Two Quiet Days in Palm Springs

Check out the museums in the Palm Springs area and the outlets nearby in Cabazon. I shopped for hours at the various outlets. I am planning on coming back for more clothing later in the year.

Quick Tips:

Avoid this place in the summer if possible. If you do come during the summer, go out early and relax by the pool during the hottest time of the day. After your rest, go out for dinner and enjoy Palm Springs at night.

Best Way To Get Around:

Driving around in a car is best. Walking around in the desert sun is tough. It's best to rent a car and enjoy the air conditioning.

Best Things Nearby:
Golf course, shopping malls, museums, restaurants, and the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway.

Best Things About the Resort:
There is a quiet pool area just for adults and a pool for children and anyone else.

Resort Experience:
There are a lot of smokers at this place. The hallway reeks of it. I'm used to a non-smoking timeshare, so it bothered me slightly. We received a studio unit overlooking one of the pools and the Arnold Palmer Tahquitz Creek Golf Course. I walked out to the balcony, but it was so hot, I didn't bother to sit out for too long.

The studio unit was just the right size for two people, although the bed was very small for a queen. It looked more like a full size bed. The microwave that was provided was also a convectional oven. There was a stove top and a full-sized refrigerator. There was complimentary coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. Additional items were to be purchased for $1. The bathroom had shampoo, conditioner, and lotion provided. There was a book at the vanity table with a list of rules and regulations and various nearby establishments. Due to the advertisement, we went to see a nearby winery for wine tasting.

There is a guest lounge with exercise equipment and a dry sauna. My sister and I tried out the sauna and found that it felt like being in an oven for a short time. I think I will try out a steam sauna before I give up on saunas. I noticed graffiti on the ceiling of the sauna and in the bathroom. I found it unfortunate that an RID-class resort would actually have graffiti in the bathroom. Who are the guests coming to visit? I also found it a little deceptive to call it a resort and spa. I thought that there would be a day spa available, but the only spa that I saw was the jacuzzi spas at either end of the pool in front of the lobby and the sauna. It was still definitely nicer than just a motel, but I am not sure if it's worthy of the RID status since I have been in other RIDs better than this resort.

• Unit Type: Studio
• Activities: Not Available
• Amenities: Very Good
• Unit Satisfaction: Good
• Family Friendliness: Excellent
• Service: Very Good

Best Things Nearby:
Downtown Palm Springs, restaurants, museums, Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, and Indian reservations.

Best Things About the Resort:
It's very close to the 10 Freeway and downtown. There are games and videos available at the front desk. The giftshop has snack items available for purchase.

Resort Experience:
The units circle a pool in the center of the complex. There is a separate building for studios. Laundry soap, dishwashing soap, hand soap is available, but not shampoo or conditioner. The studio units have murphy beds that you pull down. The beds are extremely comfortable. I was surprised to see a small automated dishwasher in a studio unit. Most studio units assume that you will be washing dishes by hand. I found the unit decorated very tastefully.

• Unit Type: Studio
• Activities: Good
• Amenities: Excellent
• Unit Satisfaction: Very Good
• Family Friendliness: Excellent
• Service: Excellent

My sister and I wanted to find a breakfast place before leaving Palm Springs. She wanted to just grab a bite at the local Denny's, but I wanted to find a local place. We ended up going to the Crosswalk Café.

I ordered a breakfast burrito, which was filled with bell peppers, eggs, ham, and onions. It also came with a side of homefries. My sister ordered scrambled eggs, homefries, and sausage. My coffee was really good, too. I can't stand bad coffee. My burrito was very good. My sister cleaned her plate, even though she had said that she wasn't going to eat part of her order. I ended up eating much more than I anticipated as well. The food is great for breakfast.

Since it was so hot, we sat outside under the misters. My sister got sprinkled with water regularly, while I sat under the umbrella to avoid getting wet. Since it was already so hot at 10am, we didn't mind getting a little wet. It hit over 100 degrees that day. Service was excellent. I will be visiting this place every time I go to Palm Springs.

Elmer's had a huge selection of food with huge portions to boot. I ordered an Egg Beater omelette and seven-grain pancakes off the healthy heart section of the menu. I almost ordered the German pancake, but I figured that it would be too long of a wait.

My sister ordered French toast and couldn't finish her meal. I could only finish my omelette and one pancake. We took the rest to go. The coffee wasn't that great and the salsa provided wasn't very tasty, but I will come back to at least try the German pancake. The service was OK, but at least the price was right. They have a web site with a few of their menu offerings, but none of the European specialties are mentioned. Check it out here.

There were not a lot of diners in this place. I don't think many people drive out this far to dine, and it's a little bit of a ways from the resorts, so it's sort of a little secret for now. Lucky for us that we happened upon it.

We ordered tom ka gai soup, which is coconut milk laden soup with chicken, bell peppers, onions, cilantro, and bamboo shoots, and tom yum gai soup, which is the same thing as tom ka gai, but no coconut milk. Tom yum gai also has a lemongrass taste to it. I preferred the tom ka gai soup to the tom yum gai. Tom yum gai wasn't as rich as the tom ka gai soup. It was one of the better tom ka gai soups that I have had. We also ordered pad thai noodles, but it was a bit overcooked. They asked us how spicy we wanted our noodles. We picked 5 out of 10. It was a bit spicy for my sister, and a bit too bland for me. I wanted to order some of the curries, but my sister did not want any curry, so I will have to try out the curries next. I ordered a Thai iced tea, but found it a bit weak for my taste. When our bill came out, we realized that the steamed rice was charged to our bill. I suppose that's to be expected, since I did not see that many Asian residents in Palm Springs. I am never charged for steamed rice in Los Angeles. In any case, I will definitely be back to try the rest of the dishes here.

I was surprised to find a tasting room in the middle of a shopping mall, but I suppose with all the stores in The River, I shouldn't be so surprised. The tasting fees were $5 for four wines, and $8 for eight. I went for the eight wines. I was surprised to find that their Syrah was actually a lighter bodied wine than their Merlot. The tasting schedule went backwards from the usual order (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah) and went Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, then Merlot. They had two mixed-blend wines: Merlot/Syrah and a Cabernet Sauvignon/Syrah. I was not impressed with the Zinfindel or the Chardonnay, but I did purchase a bottle each of the Merlot and the Sauvignon Blanc. My sister purchased the Cab/Syrah mix. I also purchased a cute soap made from wine called Cabernet Soapignon. Very cute, and smelled Oh, so good!

There are four floors. Top floor has contemporary art from the 20th century (impressionist, abstract, cubist, etc.). What was neat is that my sister noticed that two of the artists displayed were her UCLA professors. (Don't ask me their names, I can't recall.)

Third floor had Mexican pottery with items from Western Mexico. My sister pointed out that the figurines were easily sexed due to the phallus on the male figurine, and the vulva on the female figurine.

The second floor was a mish-mash of stuff. There was one section organized as Native American baskets, with work from Apache, Cahuilla, and other tribes. There was a large collection of George Montgomery work (paintings, furniture, and movie posters of him). There was a science section with live desert tortoises and information regarding tortoises and their habitat. There were other live desert animals that were in cages and information regarding them. There was also a small section on the first desert people. There was the work of Berkeley artist Deborah Oropallo that was extremely contemporary. Lastly, there was a bunch of furniture from art collector William Holden's home that was put into a section. This particular section was filled with furniture from China, Tibet, Thailand, Ethiopia, Nigeria, India, Greece, Egypt, and the Middle East. I wish this area was organized better, but it appeared that it was organized according to the way it was set up in his house by room.

The first floor was filled with Mexican art. Early works of Jose Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Siquieros. There was also an architectural photo gallery.

I thought we would be in and out of the museum in less than two hours, but we got there around 2:30pm and stayed until they kicked us out of the museum at 5pm. We even got in for $3.50 each with our student IDs.

I got a free night at the Plaza Resort and Spa, so I also decided to stay an additional night at Worldmark Palm Springs. In comparing the two, the Plaza has a sauna and two pools with the quiet pool for adults. My sister and I swam in the quiet pool in the evening. The Worldmark pool always had many swimmers in it. We didn't feel like being around many children and families, so we didn't swim in the pool at Worldmark. I was able to log in to check my email at Worldmark and we decided to play Scrabble for the evening. We didn't wash any laundry, but Worldmark allows free laundry and even provides the soap! Worldmark didn't have that cigarette smell that the Plaza had. The Plaza obviously allows smoking since we could smell it embedded in the hallways. Our room didn't smell of smoke, but there was an older resort smell to the place, probably from the cigarette smell. Worldmark smelled very clean, although the sink had a faint smell coming from it. I think some bleach needs to be poured down to eliminate some additional germs and grime.

When I checked out of the Plaza, I had to do a timeshare presentation, and I allowed it to last about 70 minutes before I got tired and ended it. I was curious to see how much a studio at the Plaza cost, but I wasn't really willing to own at the Plaza. It didn't really smell good to me because of the cigarette smoke and it seemed to appeal more to seniors than younger owners.

I got a free night at the Plaza Resort and Spa, so I also decided to stay an additional night at Worldmark Palm Springs. In comparing the two, the Plaza has a sauna and two pools with the quiet pool for adults. My sister and I swam in the quiet pool in the evening. The Worldmark pool always had many swimmers in it. We didn't feel like being around many children and families, so we didn't swim in the pool at Worldmark. I was able to login and check my email at Worldmark, and we decided to play Scrabble for the evening. We didn't wash any laundry, but Worldmark allows free laundry and even provides the soap! Worldmark didn't have that cigarette smell that the Plaza had. The Plaza obviously allows smoking since we could smell it embedded in the hallways. Our room didn't smell of smoke, but there was an older resort smell to the place, probably from the cigarette smell. Worldmark smelled very clean, although the sink had a faint smell coming from it. I think some bleach needs to be poured down to eliminate some additional germs and grime.

When I checked out of the Plaza, I had to do a timeshare presentation, and I allowed it to last about 70 minutes before I got tired and ended it. I was curious to see how much a studio at the Plaza cost, but I wasn't really willing to own at the Plaza. It didn't really smell good to me because of the cigarette smoke, and it seemed to appeal more to seniors than younger owners. They were pushing RCI Points fairly hard, but since I already owned another timeshare, they didn't push after I let them know after I had enough. I collected my free gifts (free flight and trip to Las Vegas, and another trip to Reno or Phoenix), then left for Worldmark.